What is Relec Ransomware?
Finding Relec Ransomware on your system may not cause severe devastation yet since this ransomware infection is not fully operational at the moment. As a matter of fact, our malware experts at anti-spyware-101.com say that this is an open-source educational project just like Hidden Tear Ransomware was originally. This ransomware program was coded in C++ and does have the capability of encrypting your files; however, this version does not do so. So if you have been infected with this sample, chances are your files have not been affected by this ransomware infection. Learning from the Hidden Tear spin-off cases, we can surely say that there will be more and more variants emerging as hackers and wannabes can both use it as a good base for their malicious attacks. We recommend that you regularly save a backup of your important files to cloud storage or a removable drive so that you can use these clean copies if the nightmare hits you. We advise you to remove Relec Ransomware even if right now it may not be as dangerous as it may soon become.
Where does Relec Ransomware come from?
This open-source version can actually be downloaded officially from "github.com/erhanbaris/Relec-Ransomware" but once a malicious variant emerges, its authors will have to use deceptive methods to infiltrate your system. One of the most widely used methods is via spamming campaigns. You may receive a spam mail that seemingly refers to an important issue, or what people would normally feel a sort of urgency about. For example, an overdue invoice, wrong credit card details during an online booking, and so on. Since this spam usually seems to have come from legitimate senders, who can be local authorities or well-known companies, you may not even doubt that this mail is for real. However, after you open it, you may find no further specific information regarding the alleged matter. It seems that you can only learn what is going on in detail if you open the attached file. Unfortunately, this file is the malicious executable this threat operates through, which also means that you cannot delete Relec Ransomware without the risk of having your files encoded once this infection reaches its potential. For the time being, your files should be safe but do not forget what may happen in the future.
Another way for such an infection to end up on your system is via Exploit Kits. In this case, you need to click on unsafe third-party ads or links to get redirected to a malicious page that is rigged with such kits. If your browser or your drivers (Java and Flash) are not up-to-date, such kits can take advantage of older software bugs and drop this ransomware program silently the moment this page loads in your browser. Thus, we suggest that you keep all your programs updated in order to avoid such cyber attacks. It is also worth giving a wide berth to shady file-sharing websites if you do not want to drop a bundle full of malware threats, including this ransomware.
How does Relec Ransomware work?
When run, this ransomware drops an image on your desktop that is supposed to replace your current background. But our sample did not actually change the background. Then, the encryption of your personal files should start up, which is already coded but not used by this version. In other words, your photos, videos, audios, documents, databases, and archives should be safe for now. Once the supposed encryption is done, this infection displays its rather short ransom note that simply states that you have been hacked and you have to send 1 BTC, which is a whopping 11,440 USD at the moment, for the decryption key. Of course, there is no Bitcoin address given in this version since it was not created with malicious purposes. Right now you can easily close this window and remove Relec Ransomware from your system. Let us tell you how.
How do I delete Relec Ransomware?
You can either click the "X" or "Cancel" button to close this ransom note application window. Then, you can delete the related files and that is more or less all you need to do now to eliminate this potential threat source. Please follow our guide below if you would like to do this manually. Since it is possible that there could be other malicious programs on board, too, we suggest that you employ a reliable anti-malware program like SpyHunter to automatically take care of all existing and future threats as well.
Remove Relec Ransomware from Windows
- Close the ransom note window by clicking "X" or "Cancel".
- Press Win+E.
- Locate the malicious .exe file you have recently downloaded and delete it.
- Delete the background image from your desktop.
- Empty your Recycle Bin.
- Restart your computer.
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